Appalachia

UPDATE: PLEASE EXCUSE THE MANY INEXCUSABLE TYPOGRAPHICAL, GRAMMATICAL AND STYLISTIC ERRORS IN THE FIRST POST, PUBLISHED JUST AFTER I FINISHED COMPOSING IT, BLEARY EYED, AND FATIQUED AFTER 2:00 AM.

This is a “quickie” post, one in which a better human would not have troubled himself, or even worse, I pity those unfortunate souls who may happen upon the post inadvertently. After building a fairly large Twitter following (at least by my standards, a bar set much lower than my teenage’s daughters). Next, I began this blog and though I wish my health would cooperate a bit more, I find writing on any subject that I find new or refreshing to be quite good for my soul . . . and I especially enjoy discussing the concepts discussed in my posts with people who may have had a very different take on a subject than me OR even downright dispised the sight of my name for coming to a particular opinion in a post.

The point of this brief (and shamefully self-serving post) is to boast that I bought a new camera and a suite of video-editing software and posted (though I couldn’t for the life of me remember how I was able to do so) my first videos on YouTube. Of course, I had the perfect subject for creating a video– my daughter (the best one on the planet I regret to advise you readers and fellow-bloggers, who, yourself have daughters-no doubt fine, upstanding daughters, just not quite as good as mine, I’m sure you would agree). I apologize for your misfortune in raising a daughter not quite as perfect as mine, but I must have at least something in my life which brings me supreme joy and unconditional love.

In any event, my daughter fits the Asian American “model minority” stereotype in that she excels in academics, but veers far from it in a Linsanity kind of way when it comes to basketball. Though she is just 15, she has heard from or taken unofficial visits (for basketball recruiting purposes) to teams from the Big East, SEC, Pac 10, and as one of the very few Asian American post players we see while playing in tournaments throughout the Midwest and Southeast, she has also heard from several Ivy League women’s basketball programs (a perfect marriage of her athleticism and her model minority approach to academics).

Back to my original point: My successful creation and uploading of rudimentary video clips on YouTube. Please check out the videos and let me know what you think, unless, of course, you are compelled in any way to critique my daughter. She is obviously easy to spot on the court for reasons that are self apparent. I am including a few pictures of her just above the YouTube links to my videos in which she was cast in the leading role. In order for you to get an idea of just how tall she is (5′ 11″), I’ll include a picture of her posing with me (the ugly old guy, just shy of 6′ 2″).

Before closing, I must say as an Ethnic Kazakh growing up in rural Kentucky, my daughter is quite an anomaly, speaking three languages: English, Russian (her first language-a combination which profoundly confuses people in our area who can identify the Russian language but cannot reconcile hearing the Russian language coming from an Asian’s mouth) and her final language, “Appalachian Hillbilly,” which betrays her even more than her use of the Russian language.

Mountaintop-mining (a form of surface coal mining where the tops of Appalachian mountains are removed to expose valuable coal reserves) and “fracking” (a form of accessing oil and gas reserves that many claim to be destroying water quality and causing subsidence and small earthquakes), are both forms of extracting natural resources for energy production. Both processes involve highly charged support or opposition by the coal/gas & oil industry (and their service industries), on one side, and environmental groups (and their supporters) on the other.

Pro-Mountaintop Mining Coal Miners

Leveling Appalachia

As an environmental attorney working in Appalachia, I have had the misfortune of working on both mountaintop mining issues and oil & gas fracking issues. Unlike other highly charged issues on which I have worked during my career, there is virtually no opportunity for any compromise on either side of these issues, turning political policy decisions on the subjects into metaphorical IEDs, ready to explode and alienate a large segment of voters, regardless of which side benefits from a given policy.

Fracking Policy–Supporters & Opponents are Polar Opposite

Anti-Fracking Process Description

Although I have worked with Native American tribal liaisons regarding ancestral artifacts and human remains, I have never worked with them on issues related to natural resource extraction/exploitation–though I did discuss the issue hypothetically in a graduate level Environmental Ethics course I taught as an adjunct professor. As expected, the students in the course were divided in their strongly held beliefs on both sides of the issue of whether natural resources should be allowed to be removed by private industry from Native American lands, with obvious environmental effects, if the action would result in cheaper electric bills.

Native American view of land as sacred

The Nation of Change article linked below shows one Native American tribe’s views toward the practice of “fracking” and the effects this process will have on their traditional lands.

Hours & Info

I am first and foremost a father to a wonderful Ethnic Kazakh teenage daughter, I am an environmental attorney, professor, Human Rights Commissioner, and deeply committed to ending racism (to the extent it is possible), eradicating bullying in our nation's schools and the teachers who turn a blind eye to the victims. In short, my goal is too make the world just a little better place with the time I have left. I have an interest in my daughter's Kazakh heritage, Central Asia and the countries of the former USSR. I am also a huge basketball fan and enjoy watching my 6', 158 pound daughter excel in basketball at the highest levels of amateur basketball with Kentucky Premier, a Nike sponsored travel team, competing in Nike EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball League) tournaments. You can contact me at terryclarke@outlook.com with ANY questions or comments about my interests or subjects you would like to se addressed on my blog. Also you can follow me on Twitter at terryclarke76 or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/terryclarke76.